Author: Townsend Myers

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2016 Cycling Club Growth Contest

USACycling_Logo-1From USA Cycling…

If your cycling club is looking to expand its membership, now is a great time to focus on that growth because USA Cycling is launching a 2016 Cycling Club Growth Contest!

Clubs with the most growth in USA Cycling members by April 11, 2016 will receive a prize package which includes free 2017 renewal, free event permit, discounts from DNA Cycling, and a special feature article about your club on USA Cycling’s website!

Want to get a head start on the competition?

Make sure that the existing USA Cycling members in your club have all renewed their USA Cycling memberships for 2016. Then, a great way to start increasing your contest numbers is to encourage club members to become new USA Cycling members, even if they haven’t in the past. We’ll be giving you more resources next week, so make sure you start off strong!

How does the contest work?

Your club will be included in one of three divisions, based on number of members you had at the end of 2015.

Division 1: 76+ USA Cycling members in 2015

Division 2: 30-75 USA Cycling members in 2015

Division 3: 1-29 USA Cycling members in 2015

As the number of USA Cycling members in your club grows beyond what you had in 2015, you’ll be ranked alongside other clubs in your division. The top three clubs in each division will be the ones in the running for prizes.

Each week, we’ll announce the standings along with helpful tips on how to grow your club, and advice from past Club of the Year winners. At the end of the contest the top three clubs in each division, as well as the biggest new club, will receive awards.

What are the prizes?

1st Place for each division and Biggest New Club

  • Free Club Renewal in 2016 ($200 value)
  • Free permit (up to $100)
  • 30% off a custom kit order from DNA Cycling
  • Feature article in the USA Cycling communique

2nd Place in each division

  • Free club renewal in 2016 ($200 value)
  • Free permit (up to $100)
  • 20% off a custom kit order from DNA Cycling

3rd Place in each division

  • Free club renewal in 2016 ($200 value)
  • Free permit (up to $50)
  • 10% off a custom kit offer from DNA Cycling

If you have any questions, please contact Membership Programs Manager Emily Palmer at epalmer@usacycling.org.

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Pablove Cycling Club: Pablove Across America 2016

For the past five years, members of the Semi-Tough Cycling Club have ridden their bikes to “fight kids cancer with love” as part of the annual Pablove Across America ride. Over the years, members of the club have raised well over $100,000 for the Pablove Foundation. It is something that we are all extremely proud of, and I think if you watch the video announcement for the 2016 ride, you’ll know why.

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Semi-Tough | Yeah You Ride! Caps

00004184Just in time for the holidays, the Semi-Tough Cycling Club has teamed up with our good buddies at Yeah You Ride! to bring you “The Mosquiton”, one of the freshest cycling caps we ever could have imagined. Designed in collaboration with graphic designer Tom Futrell and proudly manufactured in the USA by Rothera Cycling, these limited edition caps are a sure bet to bump up your style – on and off the bike.

  • Full-color, sublimated 100% lightweight organic cotton
  • Flexible, washable plastic brim
  • 1″ elasticated terry cloth sweatband to keep the sweat out of your eyes and the cap comfortably on your head
  • 3-panel design for a flat, rounded fit under the helmet
  • One size fits most

Purchase here.

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DSGP Masters | Single Speed Race Footage

Our good friends at Yeah You Ride! blew up the internet the other day with this sweet video of the Masters & SS race at Round 4 of the Delta States Grand Prix of Cyclocross in Ridgeland, Mississippi. If you are interested in seeing what ‘cross is all about, this footage from the beautiful Ridgeland course is a great place to start. If you already know how awesome ‘cross is, this short video will get you stoked to keep CX’ing.

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The NEW NOLA CX Practice Course

CX Crew 2015Thanks to some sweet course adjustments and extensions by our pal Micheal Boedigheimer (@landsoftly) from Yeah You Ride!, we have a really challenging and technical new section of our NOLA CX practice course at City Park. For anyone interested in getting out to see the course and hit some practice, the Strava segment is below.

The best way to get involved in NOLA CX is to show up to one of our practices: Women’s practice is Sunday at 7:30am (Note that the course is open for all, but please give the women space to handle their business), and our open skills practice and training race is Thursday afternoon – practice at 5:30, race at 6:30.

Also getting kicked off for the fall is one of our favorites – “Daddy Day Cross” – Sunday’s at 9am. Bring your bike, bring the kids with their bikes… and bring the donuts. Totally unstructured fun for all – open course for laps, and we make sure someone is always minding the little ones, mainly so they don’t eat all the donuts.

The best way to stay up on all the news is to join the NOLA CX Facebook group.

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SWAMPLOCROSS!

1185876_10203959376336768_8974609074105451101_nJoin the Semi-Tough Cycling Club and Yeah You Ride! on October 12, 2014, at City Park for the first cyclocross race of the season in the New Orleans area. SWAMPLOCROSS! is an unsanctioned cyclocross race, generously sponsored by PBR, Bicycle Micheal’s, RAW Republic, Pizza Delicious, Pagoda Cafe  and more! 

The City Park Single Track is the site for fast and frenetic CX action. Tight technical turns; fast, forested sweepers;  wide open grasslands; narrow lagoon bridges; wild rooted runs; and muddy ditches – its all in the mix. This course is so wild, it ain’t even legal cyclocross – it’s SWAMPLOCROSS!

In addition to the race, there will be free food and drink to celebrate the NOLA cycling community’s support for the Pablove Foundation and their annual Pablove Across America ride. We will have breakfast tacos from Pagoda Cafe, donuts from Blue Dot Donuts, iced coffee, and adult beverages from PBR.

Top this all off  with a multi-sonic syllabus from our own DJ Sir Cheerio, stir in the sounds of heckling and cowbells, and you have all the makings of a legit Sunday morning throw down.

  • A, B and Women’s race categories.
  • $10 entry fee, $5 for additional races if you qualify. (Women can choose to race in the A’s or B’s additionally. Top 3 in B’s can race in the A’s)
  • Fundraiser for Nola Angola and City Park Single Track Trail maintenance
  • Beer and food!
  • All bikes welcome. Costumes and bribes encouraged
  • Tunes provided by Sir Cheerio!
  • Spectating is always free! Bring your clever heckles.

Schedule:
9am – Women (5 Laps)
9:45 – B race (5 Laps)
10:30 – A race (8 Laps)

To pre-register, please fill out our simple Google Reg Form. No pre-payment required. All entry fees paid on race day.

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The Harbor Master Criterium 2014

Harbor Master LogoOn June 22, 2014, its full steam ahead on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, as Yeah You Ride and the Semi-Tough Cycling Club bring you the Harbor Master Criterium presented by Massey’s Professional Outfitters. There will be seven categorized races (including dedicated womens, juniors and masters races) with cash and other prizes, including multiple in-race primes.

The race will be held at the scenic South Shore Harbor Marina, and there will be plenty of exciting and competitive racing, as well as fun for racers and families alike – bike expo, food trucks, music, and merch giveaways. There will also be plenty of kids activities, including a kids fun-race sponsored by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.

Registration is open through USA Cycling, and there will be a special perk for pre-registration from our media sponsors at Peloton Magazine that we will be dropping details on soon. Stay tuned, and be sure to register early so you don’t miss out on it.HarborMaster_flyer_final copy

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A Semi-Tough View of Wednesday Night Worlds

wNOLAwI went knowing that I would be dropped. Honestly, I expected to be miserable and get shelled. I was headed out to ride as fast as I could (maybe even faster than I could) with a bunch of Cat 1 and 2 racers at the newly restarted Wednesday Night Worlds (wNOLAw). My friend, and local cycling legend, Kenny Bellau runs the ride, and seeing as how he has showed the STCC much love and support, I figured I would return the favor – as painful it might be to my legs and my lungs.

I went expecting to feel out of place, maybe even unwanted by some, but I knew I’d have Kenny’s blessing to sit in for as long as I could, so I gathered my nerves and headed out the door. When I arrived out at the lakefront start location, I saw a mass of uber-fit men and women who looked fast, riding bikes that looked even faster. Kenny introduced us all to one of the other “new” riders in the group – a Cat 1 racer from Holland with some kind of #europro name that sounded like it was straight from the pro peloton. I think my heart rate was close to red-lining before we even started.

But as the ride got going, where I expected to find steely cold racers and personal disappointment, to my pleasant surprise, I found just the opposite. The mentorship and encouragement on the ride was tremendous. Seasoned guys were dropping back through the group to offer pointers to less experienced riders. At one point Kenny was up ahead of me patting a fellow STCC rider on the back, and telling him how well he was doing. I had a guy ride up beside me as I was struggling who told me how good I looked, and offered me some quality advice about cornering and about where to position myself in the pack. I felt welcomed by the group, and more importantly, felt worthy of riding with them. Continue reading A Semi-Tough View of Wednesday Night Worlds